To fix the scrambled graphics, try releasing the MissingNo Pokémon. If the problem persists, the only solution is to re-start your game. This means erasing your current game and starting a brand new one." <ref name="NintendoTroubleshooting">[http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/gameboy/trouble_specificgame.jsp#missingno Nintendo - Consumer Service]</ref></blockquote>

To fix the scrambled graphics, try releasing the MissingNo Pokémon. If the problem persists, the only solution is to re-start your game. This means erasing your current game and starting a brand new one." <ref name="NintendoTroubleshooting">[http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/systems/gameboy/trouble_specificgame.jsp#missingno Nintendo - Consumer Service]</ref></blockquote>

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Nintendo was incorrect on the method for fixing graphical issues; releasing Missingno. does not fix the graphics. The actual way to fix these issues is to view the Pokédex data or stat page of a [[Glitch Pokémon family|hybrid glitch Pokémon]] or official Pokémon.

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Nintendo was incorrect on the method for fixing graphical issues; releasing Missingno. does not fix the graphics. The correct way to fix these issues is to view the Pokédex data or stat page of a [[Glitch Pokémon family|hybrid glitch Pokémon]] or official Pokémon.

Missingno.'s cry is the game's equivalent of a "blank" cry: a Nidoran♂'s cry with a pitch of 0 and no echo. However, a few Missingno. have different cries, such as a Rhydon's cry.

The Pokédex entries of Missingno. and all glitch Pokémon with a Pokédex number of 0 will only appear upon capture if the player has not encountered Cubone, but as with all glitch Pokédex entries, they normally remain inaccessible through the actual Pokédex. An exception to this is in Red and Green, where Missingno. can be "registered"; in the Pokédex if the player enables the 'seen' flag for #152 through select button glitches and memory corruption. If Missingno.'s Pokédex data is viewed, it will consist of a very long string of glitchy sounds, much like ゥ .4 or h POKé's entries. However, unlike their entries, Missingno.'s does not freeze the game.

The leveling up learnset, base stats and types of the Kabutops Fossil, Aerodactyl Fossil and Ghost forms are the same as the Pokémon whose data was accessed last.

Forms

Normal form

Missingno.'s Red and Blue normal form has a sprite that is a strange block of glitched pixels in a backward-L shape. Due to the larger number of characters that can be used to make it appear, it is the most common form. Normal form is exclusive to Pokémon Red and Blue.

This form appears through the old man glitch if the character in the third, fifth, or seventh slot of the player's name is the end-name marker, G, H, J, M, S, T, :, ], a, b, c, m, o, p, or v.

This section is incomplete.Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: images and special stats.

Missingno.'s Yellow forms are Normal/999, whereas Missingno.'s forms in Pokémon Red and Blue are Bird/Normal. They use the palette of Pikachu, and so appear as yellow and red glitched boxes. They also cause glitches that Missingno. in Red and Blue did not. If caught, they will cause graphical glitches, possibly rendering the player invisible and making duplicates of the player and all other on-screen characters walk in random locations on the screen. The Yellow forms are exclusive to Yellow. These forms do not appear through the old man glitch, as it was removed in Yellow.

Normal form

This form appears through the Mew glitch with a Special stat of 31, 32, 56, 61, 62, 63, 67, 68, 69 or 86.

Glitches caused

Missingno.'s appearance in-battle allows the item duplication glitch, which increases the number of items in the 6th bag slot by 128 unless the number of items in the slot already exceeds 128.

Encountering Missingno. has been known to interfere with the save game data in various ways, such as adversely affecting the Hall of Fame saved data and (if its stats are viewed) messing with some graphics until the stats of a normal Pokémon are viewed. When a Trainer battles with Missingno. in their party, both the Trainer sprite and their Pokémon's sprites will be scrambled, and all other sprites will be reversed. Viewing the stats screen of a non-glitch Pokémon will remove the effects.

In Pokémon Yellow, capturing Missingno. will cause multiple player sprites to walk around the screen.

Trading Missingno.

Missingno. can be traded from Red and Blue into Pokémon Yellow, but cannot be traded forward through the Time Capsule into Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal. In Yellow, Missingno. levels down to level 1 if it gains any experience, and cannot grow any higher. The only way to use a Missingno. at a different level in battle is to use a link cable to battle between two games.

In the trade center, Missingno., due to its index number, appears as many different Generation II Pokémon from the perspective of Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, most commonly Tyrogue (due to the common name of ASH in Generation I). For a full list of the Generation II Pokémon Missingno. can appear as, see list of Pokémon by index number (Generation I). If the player tries to trade Missingno., a message will appear stating "Your <name> appears abnormal." and the trade will automatically be cancelled. Rarely, if a Missingno. is successfully traded, it will become the Pokémon it was said to be, and act normally (though it will retain any and all moves it had as a Missingno.). At this point, it only may be traded back into the Generation I game while the player is still in the Time Capsule (where it will again become a Missingno.), as if the player leaves, the Generation II game will detect it as a Generation II Pokémon and not allow the player to enter the Time Capsule.

When viewed in Pokémon Stadium, Missingno. will appear as a substitute doll, while in Pokémon Stadium 2, Missingno. will show up as a Ditto, and if the game is saved via Stadium 2, will then become a Ditto permanently. Capturing Missingno. in the Game Boy Tower in Pokémon Stadium may cause the cartridge to become unable to be played with Pokémon Stadium.

Official Nintendo statement

Nintendo has an official description of Missingno. listed in their Customer Service troubleshooting section:

"MissingNO is a programming quirk, and not a real part of the game. When you get this, your game can perform strangely, and the graphics will often become scrambled. The MissingNO Pokémon is most often found after you perform the Fight Safari Zone Pokémon trick.
To fix the scrambled graphics, try releasing the MissingNo Pokémon. If the problem persists, the only solution is to re-start your game. This means erasing your current game and starting a brand new one." [1]

Nintendo was incorrect on the method for fixing graphical issues; releasing Missingno. does not fix the graphics. The correct way to fix these issues is to view the Pokédex data or stat page of a hybrid glitch Pokémon or official Pokémon.

Yellow B6, B7 and B8 variants

Trivia

Sprite of Missingno. in Pokémon Red and Green

Gene- ration IV sprite

If counted among normal Pokémon, the typical 'normal form' Missingno. has the highest Attackbase stat of all valid Pokémon in Red and Blue. This is the thirteenth highest of all Pokémon, not including other glitch Pokémon as of Generation V.

Likewise, the 'normal form' Missingno. has the lowest Defense base stat of any Pokémon, again not including other glitch Pokémon and the third lowest Speed base stat in Red and Blue.

The Pokémon Yellow normal form Missingno. have 0 base speed. This ties with various Generation I glitch Pokémon for the lowest base Speed stat.

Missingno. is much heavier than any regular Pokémon. Missingno. is about four times heavier than 'M (00). Missingno. is about half the weight of h POKé, the heaviest known Pokémon of any kind.

Missingno.'s height is 10'0". 'M (00) is more than twice as tall as Missingno. This makes Missingno. the 19th tallest Pokémon when compared to non-glitch Pokémon.

In its normal form, it has the same learnset as 'M (00), except that 'M (00) cannot learn Substitute via TM50 and Missingno. cannot learn Pound.

Missingno. is the only glitch Pokémon in Generation I whose English name is entirely composed of typographical characters. Although other glitch Pokémon such as Trainer and C may appear to be entirely composed of typographical characters, they contain illegible characters which change depending on the current tileset loaded into memory.

In the Generation IV games, there is a sprite that contains text that reads 欠番, Missingno.'s Japanese name in kanji. However, unlike the Generation I placeholder text "MISSINGNO.", it exists only to substitute blank tile data, not blank species data. This means that the game will display this if a sprite is referenced that does not exist or cannot be accessed.

Missingno. is referred to as "Pokémon 000" on Nintendo's consumer support website, referencing its Pokédex number.

Name origin

Missingno.'s English and Japanese names are both derived from "missing number".